Westminster College administrators cut the ribbon on their new Center for Veteran & Military Services today.
Corbin Katmull is a student veteran at Westminster and will be working as a student assistant in the center. He says the space will be a one-stop shop for the approximately 130 veterans it will serve.
“We have all the things that veterans would need to have success in their studies. A place to kind of sit down and have a hangout. Maybe relax watch some TV, drink a cup of coffee," Katmull says. "And then we can provide for them, different tutors, different representatives from, whether it’s the VA or counseling services, anything and everything a veteran student within the community could use to help themselves.”
Sylvia O’Hara is the new Center for Veteran & Military Services director. She says veterans often have a hard time transitioning to civilian life, and the center will be a place for them get the help and support they need.
“They don’t always feel like they belong on a campus that is their peers," she says. "So, it’s really wonderful to have a space where they can come and that’s understood without having to explain anything else, or have it quantified.”
The center was made possible by gifts from alumna and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Kim Adamson, and the R. Harold Burton Foundation.